A word from Bonnie & Beth, the 'Headless Ghosts' costume creators:

Have you ever heard the legend of the ghosts of the Luminous Lady and the Gray Gentleman? This young couple was courting back in the 1700's, but their parents did not approve. They agreed to sneak off one night late in October and elope. They decided to meet by the waterfall at midnight. When the Lady got there, however, the Gentleman told her he had changed his mind. The Lady became enraged and pushed the gentleman away from her. He began to lose his balance and grabbed onto the Lady, and they both toppled into the waterfall and they drowned in the strong currents. To this day, the Lady is always spotted glowing with rage every All Hallow's Eve, and so her ghost is called the Luminous Lady. Every year at midnight the Lady becomes so angry with the Gentleman for pulling her into the water that she takes out a sword and swipes off his head. The Gray Gentleman then carries his head until the following evening, when he is able to reattach it.

We hand-made these costumes for our dogs Aladdin (The Gray Gentleman) and Phoenix (The Luminous Lady) from different pieces of material, pieces of various costumes, a mannequin torso, paint and stuffing. The floating ghosts and the headless illusions are real (they looked the same in person) and we did not digitally alter this photo in any way.

I love this costume. I'm being a headless movie star and I want my sweet little King Charles to match me. Do you have any tips and tricks?

#2 comment by Bonnie & BethJuly 10, 2013

Thanks. Well, for this costume for the headless ghost, we used a regular old fashioned ghost outfit, then added a mannequin torso, which we painted, and made a hole in the outfit for the dog's outfit. A mannequin torso would probably be too big for a King Charles, and kind of heavy for wearing on the go. We would just suggest getting a small shirt and maybe put something like a doll's neck coming out from it, stuff the shirt tightly to make shoulders and stuff, then cut a hole in the middle of the shirt for the dog's head. Hope that helps.